New York Blackout: Dublin Style

Saturday and Sunday were a busy couple of days. I got up on time Saturday, no thanks to my alarm clock, and got to the Dublin City Archive about 15 minutes after it opened. Not bad. I continued going through their online newspaper collections, but that hit a snag when I lost the use of my email. I forgot that Loyola was doing maintenance to their servers on Saturday, and so the process of emailing files to myself came to a halt for the day since I couldn't access email. Once I realized what happened, I spent some time going through city council minute books. There really wasn't much there and I was hoping for more. Oh well. By the end of the day I had begun to go through some newspapers on microfilm. On Monday, I'll finishing emailing myself the documents I have left and hit the microfilm hard. Luckily the library is open until 8pm during the week so I should be able to get a good deal done. We'll see. The whole process is over-whelming because I have so much to see, so little time, copies are so expensive, and the use of my digital camera is prohibited.

When I finally got home from the archive I started going through the Irish Times website on my laptop. Now having American appliances in Europe can be a challenge. Most expensive items have power come with power converters (the box on the cable). I bought a separate converter for the trip as well, and have a number of different plug adapters that do not convert current. So because of all this, I have a Ireland:UK adapter followed by a UK:US adapter, which I plug my laptop into. The plug on my laptop is a little loose so for added stability, I removed the UK:US adapter and plugged my UK:US converter into the IE/UK adapter. Sound confusing?
It is. I figure that the two converters back to back shouldn't be a problem, right? Wrong. After a while I heard a big pop and the lights go out. My converter had blown. Fortunately, the fuse in the IE:UK adapter didn't blow (that happened on Friday to my first adapter. The second one is much higher quality), but the surge completely knocked out the power in the entire apartment. This was probably around 7-8pm. We try to flip the circuit breakers and nothing happens. After several trips to reception and an offer to switch apartments, we all decide to stay the night without power. Everyone I'm sharing with is here for at least two weeks and had no interest in packing in the dark. Reception said they'd have someone come out and fix the power today (Sunday). In the meantime, the lack of power provided everyone an opportunity to talk and we did so until the wee hours of the morning.

apartment. The proposed solution didn't work. So I decided to go be a tourist for a bit instead of sitting around all day waiting for a fix. I got onCome Sunday morning, the folks from reception come and fidget with the buttons in the the bus and went downtown. I planned to buy an alarm clock - the time delay issue was related to current variations, my engineer roommate speculated - which I did. Then I set out down the River Liffey (picture above) to the National Museum of Ireland. There was an exhibit about Irish militarism I wanted to see. The exhibit was interesting and had some displays I could probably use for my diss. I bought some books at the museum bookstore as well as the official literature on the Soldier Chiefs exhibit. From the national museum I set out for the Irish National War Memorial at Islandbridge.

After a 15-20 minute walk I finally arrived at the park. It consists of a number of open spaces, a few sports pitches, and the main memorial area. The center of the memorial area had a large stone monument with two poppy wreathes laid on it. To the east and west of the main area were fountains and additional stone work that led into a memorial garden at each end. Straight ahead was the main cenotaph. The stone work on the wall behind the cenotaph bore an inscription dedicating the memorial to those who died in the war. I've included pictures of the center monument with the cenotaph in the back ground as well as an image of the western memorial garden. The park in general was very relaxing and pleasant, quite the antithesis of the conflict it commemorates. I'm sure that was the idea. It was nice to see that there were a fair number of people using the park. I'm sure it would be an even greater destination for families and other events if it were more centrally located.


When I left the park I made my way back through Dublin. I went past Kilmainhaim Jail, where the '16 rebels were shot, but I didn't go in or take any pictures. I made my way past the Guinness Storehouse on the way across town to the bus stop. It wasn't too long before a bus came and I was back to UCD. Upon entering the apartment I tried the light switch and the power had, in fact, not been restored. My walking for the day was not done yet. Poop. I went down to reception and was given a key for a new apartment. Fortunately, it was in the same building on the ground floor so it wasn't a laborious move. I got myself re-settled in the new place and had some dinner consisting of Peanut Butter & Jelly - my first food since breakfast - and some carrots. All things considered it was a busy day, but I got a lot done and saw a lot of the city. The sore knees and ankles are a small price to pay in the end. Tomorrow I'll head back to the Dublin City Archive, and perhaps try to persuade them to let me use my camera. We'll see. More to come.